


Out of The Woods

by Brown_eyed_paradox



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 00:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13042389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brown_eyed_paradox/pseuds/Brown_eyed_paradox
Summary: One Shot based off the Taylor Swift song: Out of the Woods.





	Out of The Woods

They were back here again – back to this exact same spot they were in just a year ago. Eyes bloodshot from unshed tears, faces pale. His gaze drifted to the framed photo on her bedside table. He remembered, with such clarity, the night he had taken it. It had felt like the rest of the world was black and white yet she and by default they were in screaming colour. Darcy Lewis. She was his blue sky. She was the one thing in his life that he could depend on to make him feel anything other than crushing guilt. Their affair had started like a blazing fire; fast, hot, ravenous. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been that happy. Even his memories of the War were tinged with fear and the constant worry of either himself or Steve dying. But Darcy was like the Sun - bright, warm, welcoming, and he couldn’t help but gravitate towards her. For months they had a good thing going. He was smiling again, his shoulders relaxing in her presence, his dry wit making an appearance again, much to Steve’s joy. They spent entire weekends holed up in his apartment or hers, simply talking, watching movies or making out. He felt like a giddy teenage boy with his first crush. They way she always looked at him stole his breath away. Unflinching, unafraid – she trusted him. They were good – and for a moment there it had seemed like he was out of the woods so to speak. He hadn’t broken the hold HYDRA had on him- the hold that the Winter Soldier had on him. He wasn’t ‘Bucky Barnes’ – he never could be again, but he was James Barnes and he was happy.

Then the nightmares had started and along with them, violent spasms. He had landed a blow across her perfect face. She had screamed and looked at him in such fear, it had made him sick to his stomach. He rushed them to Dr. Cho, shouting at Friday and asking the AI to alert the Doctor. News of the accident had spread like wildfire and suddenly it was glaringly obvious that he didn’t belong here. Darcy had been adamant that he come into the room after Dr. Cho had finished stitching up her face. She had attempted smiling that gorgeous smile of hers that never failed to make his heart stutter but the 20 stitches across her cheekbone made it appear like a grimace of sorts.

“Baby-”

He hadn’t realised his gasp had cut her off as his eyes teared up and his body shook with sobs.  
“I’m sorry.” He managed to push out but she wouldn’t hear of it. She had somehow, after hours, managed to convince him that it was a ‘one time occurrence and that it was a complete accident.  
It wasn’t though. He jerked away the next night too and nearly choked her. He had started sleeping on the couch after that but it didn’t seem to change much of anything. His subconscious sought her out after his nightmares and he lost control over his strength as he tried to anchor himself back to her. He had to leave – he knew that and after she watched him break down several times over the next few weeks, she realised she needed to set him free. James Barnes, _her_ James – he wasn’t ready yet. He wasn’t in the clear yet. They weren’t.

She bided her time as he went to therapy and tried to sort his issues out. Jane tried setting Darcy up on dates but a single cold look from her managed to quell any further attempts from Jane. James was it, for Darcy and she reminded him of that from time to time. For his birthday, she framed a polaroid of them and gifted it to him. He had taken it after their 4th date; after she had shown him how to use a polaroid. He had tugged her onto his lap, pressed a kiss to the side of her head and taken the picture. After long missions, she’d leave out his favourite chocolates in front of his doorstep along with little post its of lighthearted jokes.

They smiled and waved whenever they saw each other but he hadn’t let come near enough to him to start a conversation. Then after months and months, on her birthday, he had cleared the furniture in the common room and had taught her how to dance ‘proper’. He had broken her heart that day, again, as he gave her back the photo in its frame. He had told her he thought they had been building up to fall apart – that she was too good for him and that he had too many monsters to ever be good enough for her. She had simply smiled at him and said ‘one day you’ll see. The monsters will turn out to be just trees. We’ll be out of the woods soon enough.’  
It happened quite abruptly. He had just landed back at base after a rather stressful mission. He had stormed off after an argument with Steve, his footsteps taking him to the kitchen, and in his rage he hadn’t so much as registered another person in the room. The second his eyes met hers, a charge shot off between them. He had all but stalked to her, his hands grabbing at any part of her within reach. Lips melding onto hers, they were a tangle of limbs within minutes as he took her against the kitchen counter. Her moans soothed his soul and her gasps of pleasure made his blood sing.  
‘ _Baby_ ’ she had whispered against his ear as she fell apart moments before he followed, a gruff ‘ _Doll_ ’ slipping from his lips.

He woke up next to her the morning after but had left before the sun came up. He had avoided her like the plague for the next month after till even Steve told him to stop being an ass. He confessed to Steve of how he had recklessly endangered her by sleeping with her in his condition and so he had to stay away from her in hopes that she might hate him enough to stop loving him. Steve had blinked at him a few times before bluntly pointing out that Bucky had gone an entire night of sleeping next to Darcy, having sex with her, and not having a single nightmare.  
Bucky’s mouth had dropped open at that observation. He had gone silent for another week after, but he hadn’t put much effort in staying away from Darcy. It irritated him sometimes to see her with a serene smile as she joined him for a quiet coffee early in the mornings. She didn’t speak a word to him, just sat beside him. She didn’t appear to hold even a shred of hatred for him and it frustrated him. It had lead him to knocking on her door at midnight and here they were, crying and staring at each other.

His fingers brushed reverently across the photo of them together, aghast that she had kept it at her bedside – that she still had hope for them. Placing it back down on her night stand, his eyes flickered to meet hers as he took in a deep breath and made his choice.  
“I think we’re in the clear, doll.” His voice croaked, eyes shining with fear and doubt.  
He heard her heartbeat spike before a shaky breath left her lips as she reached across to cup his face in her palms. Pressing a trail of kisses from the cleft of his chin to his ear, she murmured heatedly, “ _Good_.”


End file.
